George Lucas says he has a story. Do you? How about a MacGuffin, a villain, an action setpiece, an exotic locale? Here's your chance to put them together in a pitch-worthy synopsis of 500 words or fewer!

Indy 5 synopsis contests have been held by Vanity Fair and Ain't It Cool News. Now your humble Raven moderators, who have read it all, hope to honor the most original, creative efforts Indy fandom can offer.

This contest is open to residents of all corners of the globe. Multiple submissions allowed. The first of the five winners will have first choice of the five prizes, and so on. Entries will be enshrined here at TheRaider.net for eternity!

Prizes:

One of four hardcover copies of Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made, autographed and personally inscribed to you, by Chris Strompolos! And should the other Raiders guys cross paths at an upcoming screening, they'll throw their signatures in too!

Alan Eisenstock's 2012 book Raiders! is the incredible true story of how Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos realized their impossible dream of remaking Raiders of the Lost Ark. It has recently been optioned by producer Jeremy Coon for a documentary and narrative feature.

CotCW shows how the designs of one country to control another are as futile as a parent’s efforts to control their children.
In the opening, 1963, Indiana – posing as an aged Soviet General during Che Guevara’s May Day Parade – daringly rescues Mutt from the Cuban prison where Mutt has languished since the Bay of Pigs. Mutt, inspired by his father’s exploits, had become part to the CIA-funded unit that led the failed invasion. Indiana only undertakes his rogue rescue after watching years of failed diplomatic efforts to free his son. Mutt, embarrassed by being rescued by his father, announces his intent to return to the military and angrily quotes President Kennedy’s inaugural pledge, saying that he’s prepared to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.”
Traveling on alone, Indiana is met abruptly by Agent Bob Smith (FBI from KotCS) at TWA’s new terminal at Idlewild Airport. A ready helicopter flies them to the roof of a skyscraper where, in the elite Sky Club, Indiana is made a Faustian offer by nameless U.S. government advisors “X” and “Y”: steal prominent Egyptian relics from museums in Europe in exchange for assurances that Mutt will be “kept safe” during his next posting as a military advisor in Vietnam. “Y” gives a masterful overview of the Cold War and explains Egypt can’t go over to the Communists. “Y” explains that Egypt’s President Nasser has already sold out to the Russians for aid to build the Aswan Dam. “Y” claims that the Egyptians can be bought back by giving them the Nefertiti Bust and the Rosetta Stone – to help Nasser’s Arab Nationalism campaign. Indiana responds, “But these relics are with our Allies.” “Which is exactly why we need someone to steal them,” replies “Y.” “X” is silent throughout.
Frustrated, Indiana Jones agrees and travels with Marion and Sallah to Europe. Marion’s motivations are obvious – but Sallah’s are complex. He wants relics returned to Egypt but he also fears the goings-on at the Aswan site. In Germany, Indy adds a fourth member of the team: Heinrich – who is actually a young man Indy found as a starving orphan after WWII and has since grown into an academic star. Together, the team executes daring thefts, and, with the thefts garnering world headlines, transport the relics covertly to Egypt where Sallah brokers a meeting with Egyptian leaders at the dam site. But first, Sallah and Indy meet with an old engineer who designed the dam. The old man gives information on the dam and reveals the Dam’s secret purpose: flooding a tomb to contain a powerful evil.
At the dam site, the Soviets take the relics and attempt to bury Indy and Co. alive in the dam. Amidst a supernatural episode, Indy and Co. destroy the dam (as it turns out, Indy’s backup orders if the relics are refused) and relics (actually precise copies made by Marion), and escape.

Second Place

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Indiana
Jones and the Lost Temple of Timeby Andrew Rhodes

1963: Point Glyphadia near the Greek island of Antikythera. Armed with only a spear gun, Indiana Jones explores an ancient shipwreck and discovers the Antikythera Clock. The device is an astronomical clock that points the way to a lost, advanced civilization.
A run in with a large squid and band of pirates leads to a shocking discovery for the adventurer: the pirates are being guided by none other than Mutt Jones, Indy's estranged son. Mutt steals the artifact from Indy and escapes.
Indy learns that his beloved Marion has been keeping Mutt's involvement with the seedier side of humanity a secret. Seems he's in too deep now, with no foreseeable way out.
Mutt's employer, a Russian super-agent, wants to use the device to locate the lost civilization, but not for academic reasons. Legend says there's a temple there that was actually a portal through time and space. Mutt has a debt to pay, and an eye for the leader's fair daughter. In too deep indeed.
And so the race is on, Father versus Son, from the ruins of Greece, to the misty booby-trapped castles of the Carpathian Mountains, where Indy is trapped in a vampire bat-filled catacomb.
Finally they reach the lost island off the Coast of Antarctica. A ski mobile chase across ice bridges leads them to ruins and frozen remains of a civilization like we've never seen before. At the center of it all is the Time Temple itself. By way of this Time Temple, the climax finds Indy on a dizzying tour/chase through the golden ages of the very civilizations (Egyptian, Mayan, etc.) that he has devoted his life to understanding. His entire legacy right before his eyes.
Along the way, Father will reconcile with son, using their combined talents to save the world and their family once more.

Third Place

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Indiana
Jones and the Legacy of Goldby Bryan Carter

Teaser: Disney castle. Zoom in on a castle tower. It fades into a minaret. Islamic prayers echo in the background. (A younger actor portrays Indy in the teaser. This allows Disney to move forward with the younger actor in future films; an official passing of the torch. Harrison Ford takes over after the teaser.)
Morocco, 1937. Indy retrieves the Raiders fertility idol and some other artifacts from an art collector. He narrowly survives an encounter with two Arab assassins who kill the collector. After a fist-knife-sword fight, he overcomes the assassins, only to be confronted by two Germans with guns as he tries to escape downstairs. They open fire, sending him back upstairs. He jumps through the third floor plate glass window to a rooftop across the alley. Rooftop chase. Indy gets cornered. The Germans are wearing lapel pins with a Sun Wheel. Importance he discovers much later. They want the pyramid. He doesn’t know why. He then leaps off the roof into a battered truck below, driven by Sallah, and they escape. The adventure begins!
Teaser MacGuffin: small stone pyramid, opens the Temple of Three Windows. MacGuffin: Sun Disc, an object of extraordinary power. Uses the energy from the sun to concentrate a beam that can cut through solid stone. Possibly of alien origin. The secret to finding the Sun Disc lies with the First Inca – The Temple of Three Windows!
Indy and Marion travel to South America in search of an ancient fortress containing the riches of the Inca Empire, including an artifact of advanced technology which was spirited away a half-century ago. Along with Professor Hartland and Arnold Neumann, an explorer with the clues to finding the Incan tomb, they must battle a fierce Nazi cult with visions of a Fourth Reich, find a lost Incan tribe whose chief embodies an important legacy, discover an underground river whose banks are lined with horrible life-life statues of gold, and discover a hidden fortress inhabited by a tribe which practices human sacrifice!
Locales: Morocco. Marshall College. London. South American Jungle: village, Temple of Three Windows and Incan tomb, underground river, ancient mountain fortress.
Important characters: Indiana Jones. Marion Ravenwood Jones. Professor Hartland: South American mythology expert, discredited as a charlatan and purveyor of pseudo-science after a London seminar where he theorizes the Sun Disc may be technology from an advanced race. Arnold Neumann: explorer with vital clues for their quest, he harbors a deadly secret. Manco: tribal chief, descendant of the First Inca and has ties to the lost fortress.
Villains: Col Schwartz: cult leader, actually a guerilla-like henchman. Black Sun cult: Founded by S.S. leader Heinrich Himmler before WW2, thought to have been disbanded after Himmler’s death, distinguished by the Sun Wheel symbol as a lapel pin or a tattoo. Their goal: usher in the Fourth Reich using advanced technology and lost Incan riches. Indy learned of the cult through his Intel duties during the war.

Fourth Place

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Indiana
Jones and the Key to the Underworldby Mike B. Smith

Germany, 1944. The Allied Soviets have attacked and taken a secret Nazi facility and uncovered research on human augmentation in their pursuit of the perfect Aryan soldier. The Nazi documents outline a theory that the many legends of men possessing superhuman strength and abilities are based on fact. Samson, Hercules, Achilles, Alexander and many others are referenced. It appeared that the Germans were working to track any possible truth to these legendary super men, and bring that power from myth into reality by means of creating an unbeatable army of super soldiers!
1962. Just as most people did, the Soviets felt this was an indication of just how mad and desperate Hitler was. They released the info as evidence during the post-war trials of 1947, but a recent discovery by a beautiful new archeology professor, Victoria Turner, held a missing clue. Unbeknownst to anyone but the Russians, her discovery held the key to the now almost forgotten Nazi research. Similar to the famed Dead Sea Scrolls, Dr. Turner found a vessel filled with ancient parchments thought to be from the lost Library of Alexandria. The Alexander scrolls speak of Achillies’ great power. How his mother dipped him the river Styx to provide him with this power. It reveals the famed river is REAL! and speaks of the actual location of this mystical river of death and power, whose water holds the key to the supermen and to world domination. The new discovery also gets the attention of American Intelligence who suspects the Russians may be attempting to pick up where the Nazis left off. With the fear of another world war looming, the U.S. is determined to recover this research, and stop the Russians from tipping the balance of power in their favor and win the Cold War! To do so they call once again upon the now retired professor of archeology, famed adventurer, and decorated war hero. Indiana Jones!
From the icy mountains of Siberia, to the beautiful shores of Greece and into the depths of Hell itself, Indy, Turner and the U.S. Army must travel the world to find the entrance to the mythical river Styx and uncover its secrets of power before the Russians do in one last great adventure!

Fifth Place

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Indiana
Jones and the Iron Shieldby D. Campfield

1960, Qumran. On a mountaintop overlooking a larger excavation, Indiana Jones and a team of Palestinian Diggers unearth an ancient clay jar. Returning to their truck, however, the Diggers speed off with the artifact. Creating a zipline from excavation tent remnants, Indiana uses his whip to glide down to the mountain’s base. The truck drives over strategically placed nails, skids, then topples as the Diggers inside fumble to save the artifact. Overjoyed, one Digger proudly holds up the intact jar as Indiana reaches in and yanks it away.
Escaping on horseback, the Diggers trail Indy as Authorities form a blockade. Trapped, Indiana ducks into the nearest cave. Darkness. Indy flicks on a lighter. Nomads surround him. They grab the jar and flee. Firing his gun, Indiana scares them off but the clay jar has been placed among countless identical jars. Frantic, Indiana locates the jar just as the Authorities appear. Indy gives up the artifact, but has pocketed the scroll that was inside.
Connecticut. The scroll captures the interest of Dr. Tatiana Roskiakoff, 30s. A Russian born linguist and archeologist, she’s the latest addition to the University staff. Indiana’s mistrust of her is evident. Returning home, Indiana is greeted by slap across the face by his wife Marion. An argument ensues. Marion offers an ultimatum. Either Indy gives up the secret life, or she leaves...
In translating the Dead Sea scroll, Tatiana discovers a passage citing the Ark’s final resting place as Cyprus. Indiana deducts “It’s not the Ark you think it is.” Tatiana mentions a 1916 Nicholas II expedition to find Noah’s Ark in which unmarked maps were discovered. She offers to travel to Russia to find them. Mistrusting her intentions, Indiana accompanies her.
Tobolsk, Russia. Aided by Tatiana’s childhood friend, scientist Lodvar Proust, the trio locates the archives of Czar Nicholas. Documents describe the Ark being made of an indestructible material, not since seen. Unexpectedly, Lodvar shoots Indiana, and escapes with Tatiana. Indy’s left for dead... until... Tatiana returns. After patching him up, the two fly to Cyprus with the help of a Chinese diplomat.
Cyprus. After a series of cliffhangers and creepy crawlies, Indy and Tatiana discover the colossal Ark deep below the earth’s surface. But Proust and his heavily armed entourage soon arrive. Proust: “Whatever this Ark is made from, Tatiana, it is the key to our future. Imagine an army, shielded in this. A wall surrounding Russia that cannot be destroyed.” Tipped by the diplomat, a Chinese brigade arrives. A battle wages over the Ark. Gunfire causes an avalanche. Ocean waters flood in! Indiana, Tatiana, and others take cover inside the Ark. The Ark surfaces. The battle inside continues. Proust leaves Chinese General Zhang for dead, who in turn arms a ticking bomb. Indy and Tatiana escape the Ark as everyone inside is blown away. A typhoon rages as the Ark is sucked into a whirlpool. Never to be found.
Battered worse than ever before, Indy returns home, promising Marion never again to leave her.

First Tier Runners-Up

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Indiana Jones and the Unforgiving Curseby
Caelan Kelley

First scene: Paramount logo fades into the face paint of a tribal drummer who begins drumming. Next you see two people, whose faces you don't see until later, being dragged through the forest to the beat of tribal drums. Credits show. Credits end as they reach a village. You are told they are in Papua New Guinea. The two people are propped up, revealed to be Mutt and Indiana Jones himself. You see they are exhausted and sweaty, both closing their eyes. As the drumming changes, Indiana Jones suddenly opens them, seeing his sheer terror. He turns to get Mutt's attention. Mutt wakes up and asks what the noise is. Indiana tells him it’s a tribal prayer. Mutt asks what they are praying for. Indiana tells him a delicious meal. Mutt looks around, seeing other food stuffs and begins freaking out. Mutt begins blaming Indiana, criticizing his age. Indiana sets him straight, making it clear that in fact it was Mutt's fault. Indiana thinks about that, seeing he hurt Mutt and tells him it's only half his fault, and one of the tribal people comes up to them. Indiana begins trying to tell them he didn't find anything, and the person starts accusing him of grave robbing. Scene proceeds with the two characters avoiding being eaten alive by cannibals and being left for dead by their ride.
MacGuffin: Plot of the film revolves around one of the most destructive objects in all Greek mythology, not Zeus's lightning bolt, but in fact Pandora's Box. A gift from Zeus to Pandora, the first person on earth, she was told not to open it, but not why. She eventually opened it, and spilled out all the evil upon the earth. The box simply cannot be opened by regular hands, but must be opened by some defining characteristic, much like the Holy Grail. (Because Zeus gave it down to Pandora, Indiana must give it down to Mutt, and Mutt will only survive if Indiana Jones is a worthy guardian of Mutt, putting Mutt's life in the hands of Indiana's parenting.)
Villain: Soon after escaping from Papua New Guinea, Indiana Jones becomes concerned with the man who was supposed to be his partner in the matter. He learns his partner was trying to kill him, showing him the artifact that was supposed to be in Guinea. The man is an Argentinian former Nazi looking to revive the Nazis by recovering Pandora's Box and rebuilding a new empire. While Nazis may have lost their power, they still have a group of supporters called the League of Cleansing.
Locations: the film would be mainly based in Europe, with the box's location somewhere within Greece.

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Indiana Jones and the Eternal Emperorby Enya Delannoy

1958. After returning from an adventure in Mexico, Henry Walton Jones Junior III discovers that his father has been hired by the Minister of Chinese Culture to find the mythical chest, which contains the mysterious and powerful Red Pearls, coveted by the first Chinese Emperor. According to the legend, the chest was a gift from a village of Immortals and was hidden in the tomb of the first Chinese Emperor. Indiana Jones realizes immediately that the Minister wants him to find the legendary tomb of Qin Shi Huang, an Emperor who left a deep hallmark in the history of his country.
Qin Shi Huang succeeded where many had failed before: he joined the seven kingdoms under his authority, he built the Great Wall and founded the mighty Qin Dynasty. The finding of his tomb would be a great discovery in the history of Archaeology. However, the mysterious Red Pearls and the tomb are also coveted by a secret criminal organization, and his cruel chief Hu Hai Yang assures that he is the descendant and the heir of the Qin Imperial family.
New task for Dr. Jones: he has to find the chest and the tomb before Yang does. But first he needs to recover The Heart of The Tiger, a medallion needed to enter in the tomb once inside the mausoleum. Therefore, they're heading to Cambodia, where the medallion lies, according to Kara Han, a historian and expert in martial arts, and daughter of Wu Han. For Indiana Jones, the adventure has just begun! With his fiery son and the attractive Kara Han, the most famous archaeologist engages in a search full of suspense and twists, to find Qin Shi Huang's famous tomb, "the man who wanted to cheat death so he could rule all over the universe." Follow Dr. Jones in a new adventure in The Far East, Indiana Jones and the Eternal Emperor.

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Indiana Jones and the Lost Sunby Wayne Barnes

Montevergine, Italy - 1944. WW2. Indy, in an impossible situation, reclaims the Shroud of Turin from the Nazis. It looks like he’s done for when... a doorbell rings. The story stops:
It’s now 1963 and we’re in Indy’s study. A four year old girl sits on his lap. "Then what happened, Gam’pa?" The doorbell rings again. Marion walks by holding a mixing bowl, "Indy? You just going to sit there?" Indy is preoccupied with his granddaughter. We hear the creak of a door opening and the sound of breaking ceramic. This gets Indy's attention. He runs in. We see the shattered bowl on the floor. Marion is shaking and in tears, holding a letter. Neither speaks. They both turn to look at the now fatherless little girl standing in the doorway, cuddling her stuffed dog, whose collar reads "Mutt."
Cut to the day of the funeral. Mutt’s funeral. Attendees include Oxley, Stanforth, and Sallah’s son (who lives in the states). The service ends. People are paying their respects to the family when a G-Man comes over offering "condolences." He then speaks an odd phrase. Indy perks up and responds with an even stranger retort. The man hands Indy an envelope, nods, then walks off. Indy, incredulous, grins in faint relief. Mutt's alive!
The film kicks into high gear. From this brief code talk with the agent, Indy deciphers that Mutt (a base level intelligence officer) is MIA and that his activities have, for some reason, forced the U.S. government to close his file. The envelope contains the key to a train station locker. There he finds Mutt's mission brief and we follow the ‘red line’ to Pisa, then Rome where Indy meets with an old friend at the Vatican. Indy trades the ‘real’ Shroud’s location for info (where Mutt is being held) and breaks in. The two narrowly escape the villain, known as Dr. Smith, a German scientist working with the Russians on their space program. Mutt, not realizing he’s been burned by his government, debriefs his dad and the two realize the danger.
Back home, Indy arranges for Sallah’s son to get his family to safety. The two argue about the plan. Mutt wants to complete his mission and stop Smith (who isn’t working on a propulsion system, he’s building a weapon based on ancient technology known as the Lost Sun). He must stop him. Indy finds himself in the midst of a classic 1960's spy caper including a gritty spy-car chase, a makeshift jet-pack escape and a fight atop a train thru Russia. It’s cat and mouse against the villain who always seems a step ahead until the end. The heroes are captured. Mutt saves Indy’s life but is badly wounded. Indy does the same swap he uses on the Shroud to trick Smith who is undone by his own arrogance and turns to ash. Indy reclaims the artifact of power but gives it to his old monk friend (from the opening) as they decide the U.S. government cannot be trusted with this either.

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Indiana Jones and the Mask of Shebaby Darren Humphries

We open in Angora, Turkey 1929. Indy is navigating his way through a chamber with hammer like devices hanging from the ceiling. Indy accidentally activates the traps but with his usual skill and a bit of luck, he makes it successfully to the other side of the chamber where a statue of a woman, holding a large red ruby outstretched in her hand is located. Indy takes the ruby known as the Heart of the Wolf.
Cut to the National Museum, New York 1959, the Heart of the Wolf is stolen from its display case. The inexperienced thief is quickly apprehended and interrogated by the police. However, the thief refuses to talk and requests the presence of Indy. The thief then tells Indy a story about a relic known as the Mask of Sheba, which Indy is aware of, and how the Russians are searching for it. The Mask of Sheba has the power to allow the wearer to see the future. It was given to King Solomon as a gift by the Queen of Sheba and allowed King Solomon to always keep a step ahead of his enemies. In order to find the mask, three gems, out of a possible six, were required to activate a secret entrance to a chamber where the mask has been hidden for centuries.
The thief then proceeds to tell Indy that he has already located another gem and that he has it hidden away. Indy must locate a third gem as quickly as possible and get to the Mask of Sheba before the Russians do. The Russians currently have two gems and if they are able to find another and get to the mask first, it could spell doom for the whole world. Indy recovers the thief's gem and then hesitantly sets off to visit an old friend in India, Willie Scott, whose help he needs to be able to recover the gem previously seen in the Temple of Doom (the Eye of the Peacock) from the gangster, Lao Che. Eventually with three gems in hand, Indy sets off to find the secret chamber, however the Russians are hot on his trail. Will Indy get to the mask first? Can he use the power of the mask to avoid the Russians? Or are there other forces at work with ulterior motives and Indy is just an expendable pawn in their game?

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Indiana Jones and the Aressian Shieldby Steven Sharp

October 1962, five years after his mother married his father, Henry ‘Mutt’ Williams is conducting an archaeological field school. While investigating a hidden vault underneath the Iglesia Parroquia Mayor Church in Remidios Cuba, Mutt discovers a hundred square feet of treasure; 16 tons of silver, emeralds, gold, and other untold riches seized by Don Francisco Manso de Contreras from Caribbean buccaneers in the name of the King of Spain and the Catholic Church. Manso had seized a pirate ship manned by North African slave runners and its cargo which included a rusty iron shield secured over the bow.
Mutt manages to call his father describing his find, including a large shield emblem resembling the male symbol, but he is taken by the military police along with his crew of undergraduates. Indy realizes the symbol on the shield was not the male symbol, but that of Mars, the god of war.
Indy recalls tales of mysterious Punic shields at the Pillars of Hercules. “The Punicians used magic to create two Aressian Shields, an encrusted shield with two pillars and a spear sticking out from the top used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as a protection from monsters and war. The Aressian Shield on the castle at Cueta was taken by Augustine as he left the Punic beliefs to became Catholic, and was to be taken to the Vatican as an offering."
The Cubans, needing a military ally and protection, call in the Soviets to secure the treasure. Immediately, Khrushchev orders his navy to take the treasure back to the Kremlin. Indy and Marion race to Cuba and break out Mutt and his crew from prison. Indy demands Mutt take his crew to safety in Miami.
Kennedy orders Indy and Marion to transfer the treasure to the Vatican to support the Second Vatican Counsel. JFK orders a blockade to keep the Soviet navy out of Cuban waters as Indy and Marion go by train behind the Navy blockade to Guantanamo Bay, where the submarine USS-Aspro SS-309, aka The Sorcerer, sneaks our heroes past the blockade towards the Vatican to deliver the treasure.
Tensions build as the military stand-off escalates. Indy realizes that the Aressian Shield has to be returned to the Pillars of Hercules, so Indy and Marion rush to Cueta on the Straits of Gibraltar and return the Aressian Shield, stopping the curse and ending the standoff.
In the time it takes Indy and Marion to replace the shield, the Soviets catch up with the sub and attempt to capture the Aspro and collect the treasure. Racing through the Mediterranean, the Aspro beats the Soviet ship to the mouth of the Tiber River where the Russians sink and perish. Our adventurers continue up the Tiber through Rome until they reach a submersed dock under the Castel Sant’Angelo (a castle/fortress) with a tunnel system into the Vatican where the Pope welcomes their new ally and fortune.

Second Tier Runners-Up

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Indiana Jones and the Final Fateby
Jonathan Anthony

The story begins in 1965, as Associate Dean of Marshall College Indiana Jones is overseeing his former class' field trip to a Peruvian ruin. As he lectures them about the history of the ruins, suddenly they come under attack by angry natives trying to protect the ruin, and Indy has to help fend them off. But in the middle of the battle, Indy is suddenly overcome with pain, and collapses.
When he awakens, he finds himself in a hospital back in America, and with him are both Charles Stanforth and Harold Oxley, who have been at his bedside for the last three days. A doctor then informs Indy that he is starting to suffer delayed radiation poisoning from when he was exposed in New Mexico many years earlier. The doctor states that in roughly a year's time, Indy's body will succumb and he will die. Indy is deeply shaken by this, and the doctor states that he is free to go, but now must take special medications to stay functional.
Later that night, Indy broods over his inevitable fate, and decides to give his son Mutt a phone call. Mutt is currently (unhappily) attending the University of Chicago, and in the phone call, Indy tries to tell his son what is happening to him, but Mutt refuses to let him get a word in, still bitter at his father. In dialogue we discover that about two years ago, Marion died of cancer, and ever since then Indy and Mutt's relationship just got worse. Mutt hangs up on his father, and Indy is deeply hurt. He then comes to a powerful decision...
Indy does research into an old legend of a doorway to another world, where grow enchanted fruit that can heal all sickness in the consumer. He becomes determined to get to the doorway, enter this world, eat the fruit and cure himself, so that he may live longer and have more time to reconcile with his son. To do so, he must first get the ancient key that activates the doorway, currently resting in Marcus Brody's National Museum. In a thrilling caper-like sequence, Indy has to break into the museum and steal the artifact, leading to an intense chase sequence afterward, and also meets a deadly mercenary who also seeks the key. He works for a corrupt pharmaceutical company CEO who wants the fruit to make a 'miracle drug' that can make him rich.
After many close calls and intrigue, Indy finally makes it to the other world, and there discovers that this world's natives have been conquered by Nazis that fled to this world at the end of WWII, and so Indy and the mercenary must reluctantly team up to battle the Nazis and get to the fruit. In the final confrontation, at some point the fruit tree unfortunately gets burned down, and so Indy is doomed. He nevertheless succeeds in defeating the villains and liberating the natives, but he then returns to our world, knowing his days are numbered and that there is nothing he can do about it.
A few weeks later, we see Mutt in the middle of class, and at some point, Indy interrupts the class, requesting to speak to his son. The teacher allows this, and Mutt and Indy step outside. Mutt is reluctant to speak to him, but Indy finally tells him that he is dying, and proceeds to give a very emotional speech about how sorry he is for neglecting him and how badly he wants to make it up to Mutt. Mutt is moved by the speech, and finally begins to show respect to his father, forgiving him. Indy then walks off, and the last thing Mutt (and we, the audience) see is his father's silhouette, exiting the college...

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Indiana Jones and the Crusaders of the Last Arkby Jonathan Harris

We find Henry Jones, Jr. alone in a small, quaint English cottage, compliments of the British University where he has been working since his marriage to Marion, facing the reality that he may soon have to retire. Marion is visiting relatives State-side while Henry Jones III (Mutt) is away at a college in Los Angeles studying to be…a film maker, much to the chagrin of his father.
With classes out for summer, boredom knocking at the cottage door and the prospect of retirement looming in his mind Indy is unusually welcoming we visited by a couple of “historic researchers” who call on his supernatural and archeological expertise to aid in their search for the famed “Noah’s Ark.” Cynical as ever, perhaps even more so due to his increased age, Indy quickly dismisses the significance of their research once they present their case, but decides the dismissal may be premature when it is revealed that they were referred to Indy by his own son, Mutt, who went missing in the Himalayas while shooting a documentary about the expedition itself.
Indy sets out to find his son before news gets back to Marion about their son. Little does he know that the “researchers” have also enlisted the help one of Indy’s most ruthless rivals, another aged “archaeologist” (grave robber) Caullier Smith (Tom Selleck). Unlike Indy, Smith is out for both the fame and riches associated with the discovery of Noah’s Ark. Indy just wants his son.
As the two rivals race across the globe trying to gather clues ahead of the other, Indy finally catches a huge break when he runs into Mutt’s film school college professor…and Indy’s old friend, Prof. Kennon Wong, aka Short Round. Indy learns from Wong that that the “researchers” are in fact a sect of Rasputin followers who believe the Ark to be a gateway to the legendary Shangri-La, a paradise untouched, mirroring the world before the flood, also said to contain mystical powers of which the Rasputin sect hoped to resurrect their beloved leader. When Wong and Mutt learned the truth they both tried to escape but only Wong had been successful. They were separated during the chase and Mutt’s survival was uncertain.
Indy and Wong set off to find Mutt with Smith AND the Rasputin sect close on their heels, but the rescue attempt goes awry and soon Jones and Smith find themselves no longer rivals but pawns being used by the Rasputin sect to unlock the mysteries of the Ark, the legendary Shangri-La…and the formidable creature, placed there to guard its secrets. An abominable remnant left over from an ancient time.
Escaping a dark paradise, dark magic and death, Indy, Mutt, Wong and Smith barely escape with their lives but new respect is forged between old rivals and old friends…and Marion comes home none the wiser. She’s just not sure why Indy is suddenly “okay” about settling down.

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Indiana Jones and the Helmet of Perseusby Leo Mills

1965: Well-known archeologist Dr. Henry Jones Jr. is digging in Greece. He was hired by a government agency there. In time he finds the Helmet of Perseus, which gives the power of invisibility to anybody who wears it. With this newfound treasure Indy will be paid handsomely once the artifact is safely returned to the Greek government.
When the item is stored in a vehicle, a group of men unexpectedly pulls out some guns, keeping Indy and his team at bay. This group takes the vehicle along with the item and they are gone, all except one who Indy and some of his men manage to apprehend. Later this person is taken to the authorities. During the interrogation he reveals that he and the others were former KGB but no longer in the agency, because a while back they had stolen some money from a Russian weapons company, all masterminded by the group leader who is greedy and slightly mad. This captive also confesses that they knew about Indy and his reputation in archeology and they were secretly monitoring his activities. They devised a plan to infiltrate among his diggers in Greece.
The motivation for the theft was the group leader did research and realized the Helmet’s power, and could use it to sabotage the American space program. Or even worse, to pass the high security of the north/south Korean border undetected with a weapon to assassinate a foreign dignitary, ally to South Korea, or the president himself, unless his conditions are met. The price: the Greek government and neighboring countries keep paying specific amounts in protection money into his private account. If he has no answer in one week he will reignite the Korean War, achieving total victory for communism.
Back at the interrogation, they demand that the captive tell them where the item is now. He says that ever since that crime they did in Russia they are no longer welcome there, but they have friends in East Germany. The Helmet is kept in a small warehouse guarded by a few soldiers including their leader. After the interrogation is over, Indy contacts General Ross to see if he can gather a few soldiers and help Indy reclaim this artifact.
So Indy’s latest adventure and purpose is getting his just rewards for a treasure he found. But secondly it is taking an object off the hands of an extortionist madman with powers stronger than any army or weapon in the world.

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Indiana Jones and the Serpent of Fireby Wayne Barnes

Jerusalem, 1926. Abner Ravenwood unearths the headpiece. Indy helps Abner escape the double-cross of his partner. After a close call, they return to camp where a very young Marion catches Indy’s eye. Her smile says everything.
Cut to 1962. Indy and Marion are happily married. Charles Stanforth visits. Indy recounts the first time he met Marion (who’s in the kitchen). Glass breaks and Indy rushes in. Marion’s on floor, collapsed.
Cut to hospital. As Indy talks to the doctor, Mutt stares, lost in thought, at the symbol on the wall: two snakes, intertwined around a pole. Indy returns. Mutt asks "How long does she have?" Indy shrugs. "Can’t say. Weeks. Months maybe." Mutt ponders. "But, you can help, right?" Indy’s not following. "I mean, you’ve seen things, right? Miracles and stuff. There’s gotta be something that can help her. One of those crazy rocks with magic healing powers or something." "I wouldn’t know where to begin." Indy explains there are things out there, but they’re lost. Indy, referencing the symbol on the wall, explains even the Caduceus rod is said to have powers to heal, discusses its mythological roots and the possible connection that Aaron’s staff, not Moses', used to cure those afflicted in the wilderness, may have been the same object. "Great. So how do I find it?" "Son, that’s not how it works. People devote their lives to searching for objects like that."
Indy, content for the first time and with the love of his life has no plan to leave, to go searching. "Spent too many years chasing ghosts, nothing to show. I’m not about to leave the find of my life for one second." He doesn’t know how long she has left but isn’t missing a moment. Mutt concedes.
One week later. Marion’s home, resting, resenting Indy babying her. "Dammit Jones! I’m still me." Stanforth visits, lets slip to Indy he’s "glad you changed your mind. Your place is here." Indy’s confused. "About what?" Indy quickly figures out Mutt used Stanforth for info. Mutt’s gone and with a two day head start. Marion decides he MUST go. "Bring back my baby boy."
Indy’s off and amazed at how well, and far, Mutt got along by himself. His street-smarts have served him well but Indy tracks his wake with relative ease. In London, Indy meets a Thin Man who warns him about Mutt and his "friend" being in over his head as there are other interested parties. The red-line goes from Pelopponese, Greece to Jordan as Indy closes the gap and reunites with Mutt. There’s an escape down an aqueduct, a rooftop chase and a fight in the ruins that leads to a trip into the underground catacombs thru mythologically based puzzles, and a climaxing atop Mt. Nebo. Mutt learns to appreciate what he has at the moment, meanwhile his "friend" betrays him and the Thin Man proves an ally. Indy and Mutt may find the Staff, but will they finally bring the artifact home and save Marion in time?

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Indiana Jones and the Lazarus Engineby Mike Heidenberg

Indy and Marion travel to Tibet on their much-delayed honeymoon. Along the way, they encounter their old friend Short Round, now an eminent archaeologist who is excavating a long-destroyed Buddhist monastery. One of the excavators is Henri Fouquet, a brilliant but troubled researcher. Henri is a self-taught expert on the so-called "lost Gospels," which speak of Christ's travels through Asia. He is convinced that during Christ's journey through India and Tibet, he gained not only theological insight, but also great scientific knowledge that has since been forgotten. He believes that Christ's true goal was the secret of immortality, and the Grail contained merely a fraction of the knowledge he brought back with him.
After years of fruitless searching, Henri believes that he has found in this monastery the place where Christ learned his greatest secrets. The lamas of the monastery used techniques contained in ancient Chinese alchemical scrolls to construct a machine with which they could ensure that they would live on not through reincarnation, but through resurrection. Henri obsessively searches the monastery for the key to recreating this machine, which is known in the Apocrypha as the Lazarus Engine.
The Engine is a device of unimaginable power with which Christ resurrected Lazarus and his apostle Paul resurrected him. Henri has his own plans for the Engine, for he hides a dark secret: he was born Henri Belloq, and he is the son of Indy's old nemesis Rene Belloq. Henri, who never knew the truth about what happened to his father but has always blamed Indy for his death, plots to take his revenge against Indy and bring his father back to life. But Indy soon realizes that the Engine holds its own terrible secret, the secret that destroyed the monastery and could lay waste to thousands at a single stroke. Indy, Marion, and Short Round must all overcome their temptations to revive their own lost loved ones - Abner, Henry Sr., and Short Round's family - and stop Henri before it is too late.

Third Tier Runners-Up

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Indiana Jones and the Fortress of Fateby
Jason Davies

Opening cliffhanger: night time, 1945. At the end of the war we find Indy escaping Germany on a train, pursued by Nazis led by an officer who obviously has a history with Indy.
Chased along the train Indy finds himself in a carriage full of Nazi treasure, being smuggled out. He recognises a treasure with Atlantean markings and grabs it. And lastly he spots the idol of the Chachapoyan Warriors (from Raiders) and grabs it too. The area is being bombed by an allied air raid. Fighting across the top of the train, Indy jumps as the train crosses a bridge. The bridge explodes as it's hit in the raid. The train drops to its doom.
1950's: Indy is visited by Military types and told radar surveys in Antarctica have discovered vast man made caverns and tunnels buried beneath the ice. Digs have discovered Atlantean markings. Meanwhile the Atlantean artefact recovered on the train is stolen from the University museum.
Indy realises the artefact is a 'key' of sorts to something buried beneath the ice. After a chase across the globe to recover the piece, it's revealed the 'key' is to a vast weapon.
It's a race against time, pursued by the Russians, and a secret army of Nazis that could regain power with this weapon (led by a heavily scarred officer from the train). They travel through the Atlantean outpost under the ice. Indy must decide if anyone, even the U.S., should get a weapon as powerful as this, a weapon that may have brought about the end of the Atlanteans themselves.

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Indiana Jones and the Blade of Heaven's Willby Jack Weber

It is 1962. A secret group with a widespread powerful presence known as the White Lotus Society is searching for an ancient weapon. It was once an up and coming Buddhist sect before it became a secret society because of Mongol oppression during the Yuan dynasty. It grew over time, becoming a quasi-national resistance and religious organization and went on to manipulating the political sphere of China throughout history by doing things like inciting revolution and carrying out secret operations from the shadows. While generally believed to have dissipated, they continue in the form of several Triad gangs that secretly fly under the same banner of the Lotus. They continue the machinations of their predecessors, and particularly seek to wrestle power away from the Communist regime in order to take control of China, and after consolidating their power the world. Their current leader is Jin Zh’ng, a powerful triad leader and casino owner in Macau with several government officials in his pocket. There’s also agents placed within other organizations, one of them being W’i Sun. A Chinese military officer highly placed in a military organization that researches and searches for special artifacts. His position intended to give Society leads on potential tools for them to further their plans. They learn that archaeologist Wan Li, Indy’s former sidekick Short Round, and his half-Vietnamese and half-French protégée and daughter figure Adrienne Linh have discovered the hilt of a fabled blade known as Thu’n Thiên. It was said to have belonged to an entity called the Dragon King who lent it to the heroic rebel Lê L’i, who used it to help end the occupation of the Ming Dynasty in Vietnam and subsequently became king. He was at first put to the test, as he was not directly handed it, and had to find it in two pieces. The blade and hilt. The sword was said to do things like give its wielder the power of a thousand men and grow their body to a gigantic size. However, legend said that L’i had to return it after his mission was done, and it was said its power could have eventually corrupted him. Thus the Society starts a mission to take the hilt and subsequently locate the blade.
The Vietnam War is raging. Believing they should first look in the land of the legend’s origin, they task agents they have in high ranking positions within the Viet Cong with finding it for the Society. Manipulating the men under their command into finding it, saying that it would be used for maintaining their nation’s independence as it was used before.
The Society captures Linh, but Wan escapes with the hilt. They keep her alive as leverage over him. Not knowing where else to go, he finds Indy and tries best to explain the situation. Years earlier they had a falling out, which Indy regretted. Embracing this chance to make amends, Indy with his two ‘sons’ Short Round and Mutt begin their adventure.

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Indiana Jones and the Iscariot Silverby Roger J. Diamond

Indiana Jones and his son Mutt lead a hodge-podge band of academics, members of a secret Polish society, and a redhead American History doctorate candidate named Edwina "Eddie" Carmichael, the object of the younger Jones' desire. They travel the world, from the Schoharie Valley in upstate New York to Krakow, Poland (where a bishop named Karol Wojtyla assists them) to the Russian Steppes in search of the last pieces of the Iscariot Silver, 30 coins given to Judas to betray Jesus, helps them.
Legend has it that Judas was the first vampire, cursed by God to wander the Earth until the Second Coming. He and his descendants thirst for the "Blood of Christ," the blood of Christians give them a youthful look. That is one legend.
Another legend, one believed by Soviet Politburo member Jurgis Zukauskas and his followers, is that once all 30 pieces of silver are together, the person or persons in possession will have eternal youth.

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Indiana
Jones and the Power of Alexanderby David Lee Thompson

Berlin, Germany - April 1945:
A man in a German military uniform runs through the ruined streets of inner Berlin. Running past bomb craters and destroyed buildings, he reaches the German Soviet lines. He sees two Soviet soldiers with their backs to him. He runs up erratically like a mad man and shoots them both in the back, then jumps over a low berm wall and crosses into the hell that is inner Berlin. Just as bullets riddle the ground at his feet, from both sides and explosion knocks him to the ground. The German soldier with a Major’s uniform staggers to his feet and looks behind him at the Iron Cross he lost from his uniform. He hesitates, then keeps running to the German side of the lines.
Past destroyed and ruined buildings, he comes to a concrete bunker. Just then machine gun bullets riddle a brick wall past his head. In German he shouts "Communiqué for the Fuhrer!" A voice shouts back, again in German. "Word?" He responds, "Victory." "Come" responds the guard at the entrance to a hidden bunker. The Major runs through a walled bunker with lights dimming from bombs overhead and runs straight into a German General who he knocks to the ground. They both look at each other, then the General asks, "What’s so important, Major, that you would risk torture from the Soviets to get here?" He responds, "The savior of the Third Reich, sir." "Where is the Fuhrer?" "He is gone, Major!" responds the General. "Where?" asks the Major. "Outside burning!"
Paraguay, South America - 1960: Deep in a jungle compound, a man sifts through old German papers. "Here it is, sir" the man says. A young blonde haired man with a Hitler styled mustache responds, "Read it." "Kill the conspirators, eliminate Doctors Jones Senior and Junior." "We have our orders now!" "But sir, the dispatch is over 20 years old and one has already died!" "Where is the other one?" Responds the man.
Punjab Province, India: Two men break through a wall of an ancient tomb. A voice is heard with an Indian accent. "Doctor, is this the way?" Another voice responds, "Yes, it’s right here in my father's notes." "Your father's first dig from 1890?" responds the man. "Yes!" Just then a small figure of a man walks into the silhouetted light of the tomb's opened wall. "Are you sure this is the way, doctor?" A larger man walks into the silhouetted light, The outline of a gun, whip and hat appear. "Trust me" responds the tall figure.
Thus begins the greatest adventure in the annuls of human history: the search for Alexander the Great’s power. Through the Hellenistic world’s mythical sites there will be a showdown with a young archaeologist on his first dig in Egypt, Mutt Jones, and his best friend Sallah Junior. It will take all the Joneses to beat the Fourth Reich to the greatest power in the world.

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Indiana Jones and the Circle of Kingsby Devin Kowalski

The Disney logo dissolves into a castle situated on the mountainside of Romania. Inside, Indy runs through trap-filled hallways and secret corridors, desperately trying to escape the zealots of a sinister cult. Things take a grim turn when our hero is cornered in a device of such lethal cunning. The screen cuts to black and the title appears: Indiana Jones and the Circle of Kings.
Fade to the grave of Henry Jones. Indy steps into frame. He's visiting the resting place of his father. It's three weeks before the events of the intro. He discovers the last will of his dad etched into the tombstone in an ancient font. A quest to find the round table of Arthur begins and we are taken on a journey across Europe, through treacherous swamps and into unfriendly encampments populated by the most wretched and villainous scum. Indy is led to a towering citadel and his father's last will and testament comes full circle. Will he discover the secret of the medieval literature professor's riddle, or fall victim to an ancient curse brought upon by the descendants of Morgan le Fay?

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